


With All My Best Intentions

by alltimelexi



Series: Adventures In Babysitting [2]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Underage - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-30
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-11 01:36:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/473023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltimelexi/pseuds/alltimelexi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years after Mikeyway helped his best friend baby-sit; he's a college drop out working in his older brother's media store. The Pete makes a confession that changes their whole lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With All My Best Intentions

Mikey Way did not really see the point of work. He sighed as he picked up yet another out of place CD and moved to put it back in the correct spot. Sure, working for his brother was probably a lot better than most things. He made enough to live, got to see Gee almost everyday, and didn’t have to bother with stupid things like time cards or no coffee breaks. The twenty-two year old looked up when he heard the chime over the door and saw Pete Wentz enter the store with Gabe Saporta and William Beckett.

“Hey guys,” Mikey said, looking back down at the CDs. He could keep organizing them, because now he’d started, or he could go hang out with teenagers and count is as customer service. Mikey picked the second option, even though these kids probably knew their way around the store better than he did.

“Mikeyway,” Pete said, grinning up at him. Sometimes when Mikey looked at him he still saw the nine-year-old kid he had helped Frank baby-sit so often. All the essentials were still there: hyperactive, very outgoing personality, love for most things. Only small things were changed, like now Pete was… okay, he was still little, but he wasn’t a kid anymore. Somewhere along the line, he had started to take after the older boys who had watched him when he was growing up. Today he was in an Anthrax shirt, which Mikey was pretty sure used to be his, jeans that he had probably taken from his little sister, and his eyes were rimmed in black liner. Mikey wondered idly if Pete’s parents blamed him. Probably.

“Mikey, my man,” Gabe cut in, smiling. Gabe and William, on the other hand, had their own very distinct styles. They, too, were both in very tight jeans (Mikey couldn’t blame them, he realized, looking down at his own pants) but Gabe had a purple hoodie and William had a very tight v-neck sweater. Both of them were on their way to being taller than he was; they already loomed way above Pete.

“Hey guys,” Mikey said when he finally made his way over to them. “Gerard’s not in today, I’m running the place,” he added. He knew that sometimes the group would come in just to bug Gee about comic books or art school or what it was like to be an actual functioning adult. (Which cracked Mikey up, because Gerard? Functioning? An adult? Mikey wasn’t sure he’d live to see the day that happened.)

“We know,” said William, before wandering off towards the indie section. Gerard’s store, Danger Days, was really amazing. Pete and his friends constantly raved about it having the best music in town, the best comic books, the best movies, the best everything… yet William almost always stayed in that one section.

Gabe nodded towards Mikey before he too left to wander around the store. Where William stayed in one section for hours if he was permitted, Gabe couldn’t stay in one part of the store for more than five minutes unless his feet were bolted to the ground. Mikey expected Pete to follow suit, but he just stayed standing by Mikey.

“Where’s Patrick?” Mikey asked after a minute of silence. Silence around Pete was never a good sign: it usually meant something was really wrong with the boy. Talking too much was Pete’s norm; anything less meant it was time to start running damage control.

“I don’t know,” Pete said, shrugging. “He had an orchestra thing today at the middle school or something.” He was looking at his feet when he talked, something else that tipped Mikey off that something was wrong.

Mikey risked a glance towards Gabe and William before deciding that it was okay to leave them out front and take Pete in the back to talk. “Do you want to come back to the break room?” Mikey asked, trying to make the question sound casual. “I’m pretty sure Gee stocked up on coffee, and God knows nothing could stunt your growth you shrimp.”

Pete looked up and smiled a little. “Hey, I’m not short, I am fun-sized,” he protested, although he did follow Mikey into the back. He looked around a minute before sitting on a stool.

Mikey pulled up another stool to where he could see surveillance images projected onto a small screen. “So,” he said after a minute. “What’s up?”

Pete looked at him blankly for a minute. “Didn’t you offer me coffee?” he asked.

Mikey rolled his eyes, but he did say Pete could have some coffee, so he got up and turned the coffee pot on. When he sat back down he raised his eyebrow at Pete. “Well?” he asked.

Pete hesitated a moment. “I don’t want to tell you here,” he said after a minute. “It’ll take awhile and we’ll keep getting interrupted and… can I come over?” Pete was looking at him with his puppy dog eyes. Pete knew Mikey hated those damn puppy dog eyes.  
“You’ll have to wait here until I get off work if you want a ride. And you’ll have to ask your mom. I don’t want her thinking I’m trying to kidnap you or anything. Call her and then I’ll decide,” Mikey said, trying to sound like an actual adult. Pete nodded and pulled out his cell phone before wandering further into the back. Mikey watched his back and then turned to the coffee machine. He had just poured coffee into two mugs when Pete came back and he heard the bell chime symbolizing someone had either come in or left. He glanced at the screen and saw a mother and child looking around. Pete nodded at him as he shot him a glance before heading to the front of the store.

It turned out the mom was looking for a kid CD that Mikey couldn’t believe they actually had in stock (Gee really did think of everything, Mikey realized) and he got it for her without much fuss. She smiled at him and he realized she was actually a lot younger than she had looked at first.

“Is this your son?” he asked as he rang up the CD.

The woman laughed and nodded. “I get that all the time. Apparently I don’t look old enough to have a three year old.”

Mikey smiled at her. “You really don’t. You don’t look a day over twenty,” he said. The woman blushed and smiled, playing with her hair a little. Mikey knew a thing or two about flirting, okay, and this woman was totally up for it.  
“Beware, cougar,” Pete said as he came out from the back room. There was a scowl on his face. Mikey shot him a warning glance, but it was too late. The woman let go of her hair, took the bag, smiled one last time at Mikey, and led her son out of the store.

“What was that?” Mikey asked Pete, turning toward him.

“She was like, fifty, Mikey! Jesus, I know you’re old, but there’s a limit isn’t there?” Pete exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

Trying to remind himself that it was not okay to hit Pete every time he was a douche, Mikey just shook his head. “Whatever, Pete. What’d your mom say?” he asked, changing the subject.

Pete relaxed a little. “She said it was fine,” he said, shrugging. “I told her I’d probably just stay with Gabe after so she wouldn’t have to worry about picking me up or anything.”

Mikey nodded and then nodded towards where William and Gabe had migrated towards each other in the middle of the store. “Are you going to go with them or stay until I’m off and have me give you a ride?” he asked.

“I want to stay here,” Pete said firmly.

Mikey nodded. “I close up in an hour anyway. Go tell them you’re staying so you don’t make them wait the whole time,” Mikey demanded. Pete play saluted him and then half-jogged towards his friends. Mikey didn’t even bother chastising him about running in the store; he’d do it again anyway.  
Gabe and William left shortly after Pete talked to them, three CDs richer, and Mikey went back to organizing the CDs. He was a little grateful that William hated the CDs being out of order almost as much as Frank did, because most of them were back in the right spot.

“Mikey,” Pete asked after about twenty minutes. Usually, leaving Pete to his own devices in the store worked out great. He immersed himself in comic books or tried each CD at the listening station or looked through every video they had and left everyone else alone.  
Mikey looked over at him. “Yeah?” he asked, moving a Black Flag CD from the Black Veil Brides section. God knew if Frank saw that he’d have a fit.

“I’m sorry I scared your cougar away,” Pete said softly.

Mikey raised an eyebrow at him. It wasn’t a very sincere apology, since he was still calling the poor woman a cougar, but he knew it was huge for Pete who, on principle, never apologized. “It’s alright. She wasn’t that cute anyway,” he said. It was true. Also, a serious relationship with someone who had a kid would not work for Mikey. He wasn’t that ready to be an adult.

Pete smiled at him again, and Mikey had to smile back this time. “Can I have this?” Pete asked after a minute, holding out a copy of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Mikey studied it for a minute and then shrugged. If Pete hadn’t seen the classic, he deserved it. Gee would understand, if he even noticed, because… well it was one of Gerard’s favorites anyway.

Pete grinned and left to go back to whatever he had been doing before he had interrupted Mikey. When it was finally time to close up, Mikey had to search the store for him. He finally found him sitting in a corner with a Batman comic book open in his lap. Mikey couldn’t fight back a grin at the site. “Come on, time to go,” he said, holding a hand out to help Pete up.

Pete accepted the hand gratefully and jumped to his feet, putting the comic back on the shelf he had found it, and then shoving his hands deep into his pocket. He held the DVD between his arm and his side. “All right,” he said. Mikey made sure he was following him before he headed towards the door. He locked it behind them and then gestured towards his car. Pete climbed into the passenger seat like he belonged there and immediately started rifling through Mikey’s CDs. Usually Mikey hated it when anyone thought they deserved to look through his CDs, and when they changed it like Pete was doing now… Well, they usually didn’t get to ride with him anymore. But Pete was different. When he had done it the first few times he rode in Mikey’s car, Mikey had just shoved it aside do to the fact that Pete was ten and didn’t know any better. Now he was just used to it.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Mikey asked as he started the car. The clock revealed that it was around the time he normally ate.

“I don’t have any money,” Pete said with a shrug.

“My treat,” Mikey said as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the nearest Burger King. Pete grinned widely at him and went back to messing with the radio. Mikey shook his head fondly at the younger boy and then made sure to focus on the road so he didn’t kill them both.  
When he pulled into the Burger King parking lot, Pete jumped out and ran inside. By the time Mikey caught up to him he was waiting in line with one of the Burger King crowns placed firmly on his head. Mikey couldn’t help but laugh when Pete looked over at him.

“Remember the first time I came here with you?” Pete asked suddenly. Mikey tried to think back. It had to have been about… five years ago. He nodded and Pete smiled. “I do too. I was complaining that I didn’t want to go to Burger King because Gabe was a vegetarian and I wanted to try it. And you told me-“

“That you could eat the tray for all I cared, I wanted a chicken sandwich,” Mikey finished, grinning. “You got so upset at me you refused to eat anything. So I was sitting here with a ten year old on a hunger strike.”

Pete’s smile grew wider. He still claimed to be vegetarian sometimes, so Mikey had no idea what he was going to order when they got to the counter. “Two chicken sandwiches,” Pete told the boy working the register, “and two Hershey’s chocolate pies, please.”

Mikey raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t question the fact that Pete had decided ordering for him was okay now. He pulled his wallet out and paid for the food while Pete went to get drinks. Mikey hung out by the counter until their food was ready and then went to sit at the table Pete had already chosen.

“I got you lemonade,” Pete said, gesturing towards the cup that he wasn’t currently drinking out of. He was still wearing the crown and Mikey had to fight back another smile as he nodded seriously.

Mikey sat down and handed Pete his food before commenting. “You know, you may be the bossiest date I’ve ever had. Especially when I’m paying for everything,” he said, taking a bite out of his sandwich. He was just teasing, but Pete’s eyes went wide. Mikey swallowed and shrugged. “I mean….”

“This is totally a date, Mikeyway,” Pete said, grinning widely all of a sudden. Mikey raised an eyebrow at him, but Pete just mirrored him and took a huge bite out of his sandwich. Mikey snorted and then noticed a man and woman staring at him from the next table. The woman’s nose crinkled in disgust when she noticed he had seen her. Mikey looked down at himself, wondering if he had maybe gotten ketchup on himself or something. Then he realized they had probably heard the encounter with Pete. Oh. Well. That would appear odd, wouldn’t it? Pete wasn’t a kid anymore, but he was still tiny and sometimes looked younger than the fifteen years that he was. Then Mikey, although he didn’t think he looked old, at least looked his age most of the time.

“Mikey,” Pete said, sounding impatient, as though this wasn’t the first time he had tried to get the older boy’s attention. Mikey turned his focus onto Pete, tilting his head to the side a little to show he was listening. “I just wanted to know what movies you had at your house,” Pete said, shrugging.

“You know what movies I have at my house,” Mikey said, a little confused. “You were just there last week and you went through all of them to pick out one that you wanted to watch. Why?”

“You could have gotten new ones in a week!” Pete exclaimed, frowning a little. “I mean, look at where you look. I was just wondering. I maybe wanted to watch a movie.”

Mikey furrowed his eyebrows. “I thought you wanted to talk and not get interrupted,” he said, completely confused now.

“Well, yeah, I do. But after that,” Pete said, shoving the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. Mikey frowned but shrugged and didn’t say anything. When they were ready to go, Pete grabbed another crown, this one a girl crown (it had a unicorn on it though, Mikey noticed) and stood on his tiptoes to place it on Mikey’s head. Mikey reached up to touch it, but Pete slapped his hand away. Mikey frowned again, because it wasn’t even on his head very well, but Pete seemed to have decided that fixing it was his job. At least, judging by the way he was still standing very close to Mikey and was messing with the crown. Mikey wondered what the judgmental couple was thinking right now. The thought made him have to bite back a snort.

When they were back in the car, Pete smiled at him. “You’re my queen,” he said. Mikey just rolled his eyes and started driving, turning the music up. He didn’t take the crown off though: to be honest, he kind of liked it.

When they got to Mikey’s apartment, Pete lingered at the car for a minute. “What’s up?” Mikey asked. Pete had been to his apartment several times. For some reason he had assumed that since he was Mikey’s favorite out of his friends that he was allowed to go hang out at Mikey’s place. Mikey realized his assumption was pretty correct. He’d had the apartment for three years, and Pete had been a constant visitor since then. He had even come to visit him in his dorm room a few times the year Mikey had given college a chance. Mikey had never had any problems with him dropping by unexpectedly to see him. In fact, he had always enjoyed having Pete come to visit, even when he was as young as eleven.

Pete just shrugged now and followed Mikey to the door. When Mikey unlocked it, Pete almost shoved him inside and closed the door. “Okay, we have to talk now,” Pete said, the serious look on his face throwing Mikey off a little.

“Okay,” Mikey said, moving to sit on the couch. Pete followed him and sat on the very opposite end. “Start talking,” Mikey said once Pete looked settled.

“All right. Okay. Well. Remember the first day we met?” Pete asked, pulling his knees up to his chest. He looked kind of like a scared little kid, which made Mikey start worrying.

“Yes?” Mikey said, a little confused. Was Pete upset because of him? “Of course I remember.”

Pete nodded seriously and then pulled something out of his pocket. It was a black plastic ring. It immediately brought back memories: nine-year-old Pete declaring Mikey beautiful and asking him to marry him, the actual wedding ceremony which had been performed by Gabe Saporta, all the little kids that had come to watch them, Frank’s joking words about marriage being a lifetime commitment. “I found this,” Pete said, his voice soft.

“Oh,” Mikey said, simply because he couldn’t think of what else to say.

Pete wasn’t looking at him; he was looking at the ring in his hand. “I just… it made me wonder… do you still have yours?” he asked, finally looking up at Mikey.

Mikey looked back at him before standing up and going over to his bedroom. When he came back to the couch, he held his hand out. The purple ring his brought had gotten out of a twenty-five cent toy machine six years ago was resting in his palm. “Of course I do, Pete.”

Pete’s whole face lit up when he saw it. “Wow, you actually kept it,” Pete said, jumping up and moving to look at it. Mikey felt the urge to snap his hand closed when Pete reached for the ring, a knee-jerk reaction to two douche bag roommates who didn’t seem to understand the importance of “No, these are my things,” and Frank who never respected anyone’s personal space ever and actually knew the significance of the ring. Instead, he let Pete take it from his hand.

Pete studied the ring carefully for a minute before giving it back to Mikey. “I…” Mikey started, because suddenly the whole room seemed tense. Mikey licked his lips nervously and then looked down at Pete.

Pete was staring at him with wide eyes that looked almost as nervous as Mikey felt. “Mikey,” he said after a minute. “Don’t freak out, okay? You can’t freak out,” Pete was saying even as he stood on tiptoe once again and pressed his lips to Mikey’s.

Telling Mikey not to freak out was a little beside the point. A fifteen-year-old was kissing him. It wasn’t any fifteen-year-old though; it was Pete. Pete whom he had married after knowing for less than thirty minutes, Pete whom came over and went home with Mikey’s clothes and wore them the next time they hung out, Pete who was the most complex person Mikey had ever met and who was only a sophomore in high school.  
With a sigh, Mikey closed his eyes, slid his arms around Pete’s waist, and kissed back. He knew that he really, really shouldn’t be. Pete was fifteen, Mikey was an adult, and this was probably so many shades of illegal. The noise Pete made when Mikey started kissing back shoved that thought from his mind, however. Screw the law, Pete Wentz was in his living room making little whimpering noises, noises that Mikey was causing. He’d have to be a saint to pass up something like that.  
After a minute of kissing, Pete started tugging Mikey forward until they fell onto the couch. Mikey was on top of Pete now, his arms on either side of Pete’s head keeping him braced as the kissing got deeper. “What are we doing?” he asked when they paused to take a breath.

“I have been in love with you since I was nine years old, Mikey Way, and what I am doing is acting on it,” Pete said a little fiercely, before he arched up and kissed Mikey again. Mikey didn’t hesitate this time before he kissed back. After a couple minutes of just kissing, Pete started to slip his hand under Mikey’s shirt. Mikey had to bite back a groan before rolling off Pete quickly. He pulled his own shirt off and then watched while Pete did the same.

His eyes widened when he saw Pete’s chest. “How the hell did you get a tattoo?” he asked, tracing the design with a finger.

Pete’s breath hitched a little. “Fake I.D.,” he said, stretching out underneath Mikey. “You like it?”

Mikey traced the necklace of thorns around Pete’s throat and nodded. “How has your mom not seen that?” he asked, genuinely in awe. If he or Gerard had done something like that when they were fifteen, their mom would have killed them dead. Even Frank had waited until he was eighteen, although only to the very day, before he got his first ink.

“I refuse to take off my shirt anywhere near her,” Pete said with a shrug, grinning now. “She chalks it up to me being awkward about my teenage body that is going through puberty or something. And I mean I’ve never outright lied to her about it. I suppose it doesn’t cross her mind to ask ‘Have you gotten any illegal tattoos in the time since I last saw your chest?’ very often.”

Mikey shook his head. “She is going to find out,” he said, “because mother’s always do and you are going to be in so much trouble, Peter Louis Kingston Wentz III.”

“Probably,” Pete said with another shrug. “But it’s kind of permanent. There isn’t really anything she can do about it.” Mikey shrugged and continued tracing it with his finger. Pete smiled but struggled to sit up. “All this talk about my mother has kind of ruined the mood.”

Mikey laughed. “You’re right,” he said, shaking his head. “We can do something else instead,” he said, shrugging.

“Hey, Mikey,” Pete said shifting so he was leaning against him. “What exactly did this mean?” he asked, gesturing between them.

“Well,” Mikey said slowly, drawing it out. “You’re fifteen, Pete. What can it mean, really? We can’t go around holding hands or anything… It’s illegal.”

“Do you really think anyone we hang out with would care?” Pete asked sounding a little annoyed now. “I mean, do you really think Gerard or Gabe are going to call the cops and say ‘Yeah, a consenting fifteen year old is dating a twenty-two year old.’”

“Your mom might,” Mikey said, getting serious. “If she found out about this I could get in a lot of trouble, Pete. I could get sent to jail, okay? I mean there is no doubt in my mind that I am totally… I definitely like you, okay? I do. I just. I can’t go to jail, Pete.”

“My mom won’t have to know!” Pete said. “I mean I hang out with you all the time anyway. She doesn’t get suspicious about that. I hang out with Gerard and he’s twenty-five!”

“You don’t stay at his apartment,” Mikey said, trying to stress the importance of the topic. “He didn’t baby-sit you when you were nine years old, Pete! And he’s not the one who wants to…”

“Who wants to what, Mikey? Be with me because he genuinely likes me and knows that deep down?” Pete spat, crossing his arms over his chest. Mikey shook his head, frowning. Pete scowled and turned away from him.

“Pete,” Mikey said softly, reaching out and touching his shoulder gently. Pete hunched into himself, refusing to look at him. “Pete, come on… please?”  
“Leave me alone,” Pete said with a scowl, shrugging Mikey’s hand off his shoulder and grabbing his shirt. “I’m going home,” he announced. Mikey sighed and shook his head, not bothering to argue. When Pete got in a bad mood, there was very little Mikey, or anyone, could do to calm him down. Pete looked at him, finally, his face guarded. Before Mikey could consider what to do, Pete had stepped forward and kissed him again. Then he was leaving.

Mikey didn’t know what to do. He collapsed onto the couch and cursed himself. “I really fucked it up this time, didn’t I?” he asked himself out loud. He realized just how stupid he sounded, talking to himself like that, and immediately pulled out his phone. He got antsy when it kept ringing, swearing he would throw it at the Goddamn wall if it went straight to voice mail. Luckily, someone picked up. “Gee?” Mikey asked.  
“Mikes?” his big brother asked, sounding slightly confused. Mikey admitted he didn’t call Gerard very often. He saw him almost every day, so he felt like he didn’t need to.

“Gee, I’ve got to… something happened. I need to talk to you,” he said, noting that his voice sounded a little off.

He heard Gerard mumbling something, probably to Frank, before saying “What’s up, Mikey?”

“Pete kissed me,” Mikey said, realizing it was better to just get it out instead of dancing around the subject.

Gerard didn’t seem as surprised as he should be. “And?” he asked, as though there was something else that had turned today into the worst day of Mikey’s existence.

“And I turned him away!” Mikey exclaimed, annoyed now. “He’s fifteen, Gerard! This isn’t like some, freshman and senior shit like you and Frank, this is he’s a sophomore and I’ve already been to college!”

“You dropped out of college, actually,” Gerard said. Mikey tried his best not to snarl at his brother’s know-it-all attitude. “Honestly Mikey, everyone else has known about this since… well, forever. He’s been hung up on you since he was nine. Why do you think his thing with Ashlee didn’t work out?”

Mikey stared at his phone like it had just insulted his mother. “Because they tried to ‘go steady’ when they were twelve years old? What are you even talking about?”

“He’s loved you for a long time, Mikeyway,” Mikey heard Frank call from the background. “Just ask Pattycakes!”

“Gee, he’s fifteen. It’s illegal!” Mikey said, desperate now.

“So are a lot of things you do, Mikes. Those don’t seem to bother you. Just don’t even put the law into the equation, you know? You need to sit back and think ‘If Pete was twenty-one, would I want to be with him?’ I mean, don’t change anything about him. He still wears girl jeans and uses way too much eyeliner,” Gerard rambled on.

“Um, pot calling kettle black, Gee,” Mikey cut in, because seriously, Gerard could have been describing himself with that sentence.

“Yeah, whatever, anyway he’s still the exact same Pete. He throws temper tantrums when he doesn’t get things his way and he tries to give his parent’s heart attacks on a daily basis. He’s just older. Would you want to date him?”

The sad thing is, Mikey doesn’t even have to think about it. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said softly. “When I met him, I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. Something got seriously fucked up in the chain of events that is my life, Gerard.”  
“Well,” Gerard said, his voice softer, kinder sounding. “I think you have your answer Mikey.”

“You’re right… I’ve got to go, Gee, I need to call him or something. I have to fix this,” Mikey said, urgency suddenly overwhelming him.

“Proud of you, Mikeyway,” Gerard said instead of saying goodbye. When he hung up, Mikey spent a few minutes just looking at his phone. He then dialed Pete’s cell number. He didn’t answer, but then again, Mikey hadn’t been expecting him to. He hesitated a minute before dialing Pete’s home phone number.

“Hello?” Mrs. Wentz asked when she answered.

“Hi, this is Mikey. Um, Mikey Way. I was just calling to ask if Pete was there?” he muttered, hoping he didn’t sound too suspicious.

Apparently he didn’t, because when Mrs. Wentz replied, her voice was cheerful. “Oh, I’m sorry honey, he’s staying the night at Gabriel’s. Do you want to leave a message?” she asked.  
“Oh, no thank you. I just, um, wanted to let him know that we got the next book in of a series he likes. It can wait until he comes in next. Thank you, Mrs. Wentz,” Mikey said, making up a lie on the spot. He sent a silent prayer up to whoever exactly was watching over the world, thanking them for not letting him get his older brother’s awful lying skills.

“Anytime, Mikey. How’s your mother doing?” Mrs. Wentz asked, prolonging the end of the conversation.

Mikey had to force himself to stay polite. “She’s fine, I think. I admit I don’t go home as much as she wants me to. Gerard doesn’t either. I’m sorry Mrs. Wentz, but I have to go now, I’m supposed to call Gerard,” he said, another lie seeing as he had just gotten off the phone with his big brother.

“That’s fine, I’ll tell Pete you called,” Mrs. Wentz said before hanging up. Mikey sighed and called Gabe. When Gabe, William, and Patrick all said they hadn’t heard from him all night, Mikey started to get worried. He tried one last number, the only other one he had in his phone, but Ryan denied having seen him either. That was when Mikey grabbed his keys and went out to look.  
Mikey didn’t know Pete as well as he liked to think he did. No one knew Pete as well as they’d like to, not even Pete. If Mikey had to guess he’d say Patrick was the closest, but even he fell short on a lot of information. Mikey drove to the few places he could think of that Pete might be, growing more and more worried when each spot came up empty.

When the final place Mikey looked, a park across from his apartment, turned up empty, Mikey was close to having a break down. Mikey was considering calling reinforcements, particularly Pete’s parents, or maybe the cops, when he saw a very familiar black sweatshirt. Mikey looked around the playground before looking back in the direction of the sweatshirt. It was definitely Pete. He was slumped down under a small bridge on the walking path. Mikey’s heartbeat sped up as he ran towards him, stumbling and almost falling down the embankment.

“Pete!” he called. Pete’s head lifted and he looked over. When Mikey reached him, he saw the pill bottle lying beside him, and the way his eyes were hazed over.

“Mikey, Mikey, Mikeyway,” Pete said, his words slurring. “You found me, Mikeyway. I was hoping you wouldn’t find me.”

Mikey’s heart raced as he picked up the pill bottle. “What did you take, Pete? Pete, what did you do?”

“Dunno, Mikeyway. I dunno. I wanted to say goodbye, I did, I was gonna… I was gonna do something I think,” Pete slurred, his eyes falling shut.

“Pete, Goddamn it, don’t close your eyes. Don’t go to sleep, Pete, all right? Focus on me, Pete, come on,” Mikey pleaded as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. “Hello? Yes, I’m at Deerfield Park, there’s a boy, he swallowed pills, we need an ambulance!” he rushed into the phone when dispatch answered.

“Mikeyway,” Pete muttered, his eyes slipping closed again. “Love you, Mikeyway.”

Mikey’s blood felt cold. He pulled Pete’s head into his lap, stroking his hair and trying not to cry while he waited for the ambulance. His skin was colder than it had ever felt before. Every few second he checked to make sure Pete was still breathing. When it finally arrived and the paramedics were tending to Pete, loading him onto a stretcher to take him to the hospital, Mikey stood off to the side, not knowing what to do. Eventually a man came over to ask him questions. “What’s the boy’s name?” he asked, holding a clipboard.

“Pete Wentz,” Mikey said, pushing his glasses up his nose awkwardly.

“How old is he?” the man asked after scribbling something.  
“Fifteen,” Mikey said, before shaking his head. “Is he going to be okay?”

“We don’t know yet,” the man answered honestly. “What’s your name?”

“Michael Way,” Mikey said, glancing towards the ambulance. They were placing an oxygen mask on Pete. “Can I go with him?”

The man nodded, but told him he needed to answer a few more questions. “What’s your relationship with Pete?” he asked.

Instantly, Mikey was scared. What was he supposed to say? It was obvious he was much too old for Pete, especially right now when Pete looked so small and young as they were loading him into the ambulance. “I’m just a friend,” Mikey said after a minute. “I used to baby-sit him when he was younger.”

The man nodded. “Do you have any contact information for his parent or guardian?” he asked. Mikey gave him Pete’s home number and then was allowed to crawl into the back of the ambulance to sit by Pete.

He realized he was still holding the bottle the pills had been in, and handed it to one of the people tending to Pete. “This was by him when I found him,” he said, biting his lip. “I’m not sure if that’s actually what he took but…” The man nodded and studied it, saying something to another one of the doctors. Mikey reached for Pete’s hand, holding it tightly.

“We’re judging this as a suicide attempt,” the man who asked Mikey all of the questions early said. Mikey’s head started to spin. He couldn’t wrap his head around Pete honestly trying to kill himself. “Do you know any reasons why he may think suicide is a valid option?”

Mikey could come clean right now. He could tell the man that Pete liked him, that Mikey had rejected him and Pete had ran off. He wouldn’t get into any trouble then. Sure, he’d probably never be able to see Pete again but… “No,” Mikey said shaking his head. “I don’t know why he would. I think… I think he was probably just trying to get high and messed up.”

The man nodded and whispered something in the ear of the man Mikey had given the pill bottle too. When they reached the hospital, Pete’s mom and dad were already there. Pete’s mom ran over to him and wrapped Mikey in a huge hug. “Michael, thank you so much, thank you for finding Pete,” she said, sobbing against his chest. Mikey didn’t know what to do, so he awkwardly patted her on the back until she let go.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wentz? We need to talk to you, can you please come with us?” the very same man who had been questioning Mikey asked. Mr. Wentz nodded and led his wife after the doctor. Mikey realized he could leave now, but that didn’t feel like an option. Instead, he made his way over to the waiting room, and slumped into a chair. He didn’t bother calling Gerard, he would find out eventually, and Mikey couldn’t handle another third degree. There was, however, one person Mikey knew he needed to notify.  
Mikey looked around the waiting room and saw several groups of people, clumped together. Some were talking, some looked nervous, and a few people were crying. One man was talking excitedly to a group of beaming, well dressed, people. “Yeah, we have his name already planned out,” the man said, his chest swelling with pride. For some reason, Mikey felt like he just knew the name was going to be Pete. If it was Pete, Mikey wouldn’t be able to take it. “Michael Anthony, it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” the father-to-be announced grandly.

Mikey shuddered and grabbed a random magazine from the table beside him. It wasn’t Pete. It was a creepy coincidence, but it wasn’t Pete. Mikey didn’t want to admit, even to himself, that he’d believed in reincarnation for a total minute there. He scanned the page he opened the magazine to, something about colon cancer in men, until he felt the presence of someone standing in front of him. He looked up, and Patrick Stump slapped him across the face.

“What the hell was that for?” Mikey spit out, tossing the magazine back onto the table. It slid off onto the floor, taking about three other magazines and two pamphlets with him.

“This is all your fault!” Patrick almost shouted. Everyone in the waiting room, including the ones waiting for the baby Michael, was watching them.  
Mikey gritted his teeth, trying to stop himself from shoving the small twelve-year old boy to the floor. “Fuck off, Patrick,” he said instead.

“No!” Patrick said, softer now, but just as angrily. “Pete could die, Mikey! He could be in there dying and I can’t see him and it’s your fault because you told him… I don’t even know what you told him, but it was obviously bad because look at where we are!”

“It’s not my fault,” Mikey said, turning to glare at Patrick. “This. Is. Not. My. Fault. I’m the one who found him, you weren’t even worried, so if it’s anyone’s fault it’s yours. You’re supposed to be his best friend, right? Shouldn’t you have noticed something was wrong?”

“I’m his best friend,” Patrick snarled, “but you’re supposed to be more than that.”

Mikey didn’t say anything back. What could he say to that accusation? He wanted to deny it, wanted to say that he’d never signed up for that position, but realized he had. Six years ago, when he met Pete. Sure, he’d been nine and Mikey hadn’t felt like this then. He’d just felt… attached. Mikey groaned when he realized just how screwed he was. Patrick, seemingly satisfied with making sure Mikey was aware that he was at blame and an idiot, sat down beside him and pulled the magazine Mikey had been trying to read off the floor. Mikey just looked down at his feet.

After two hours of him and Patrick staying quiet in the emergency room, Mrs. Wentz came out. “He’s going to be okay,” she announced before she even noticed Patrick. “Patrick, sweetheart, what on Earth are you doing here? It’s much too late for you to be out.”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am,” Patrick said softly. “Mikey told me what happened and I had to make sure Pete was okay. Is he awake?”

“No,” Mrs. Wentz said, her voice wavering slightly. “They pumped his stomach and he should be okay, but he’s not awake yet. Patrick, tell me… did you know anything about Pete getting a tattoo?”

Patrick turned bright red, but shook his head. “I should get home,” he muttered quickly. “When Pete wakes up, will you tell him I was here?”

“Of course dear,” Mrs. Wentz said, going over and kissing Patrick’s forehead. Patrick smiled at her and then left. Mikey felt envious. If one day Pete declared that he was in love with Patrick, his family would be okay with it. They’d probably embrace it, even. Patrick was so much a part of their family already.

“Michael,” Mrs. Wentz said, moving so she was sitting down beside him. “Is there something you want to tell me?” she asked, her voice soft and calm. She didn’t sound angry, she didn’t sound like she was making accusations, but Mikey was still hesitant.  
“What do you mean, Mrs. Wentz?” he asked, swallowing around a lump in his throat.

Mrs. Wentz eyed him, but then sighed. “He became conscious for awhile. He asked for you, Michael. I just… I want him to be able to tell me everything. Having a mini-breakdown because I had never seen the very large tattoo on his chest until they took his shirt off in the emergency room clued me in to the fact that he doesn’t. I’d be very thankful if you didn’t keep things from me about my son either.”

“I…” Mikey started. Then he, finally, broke down. He didn’t realize it until he felt the tears falling down his face, leaving warm wet streaks behind. He took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes before sighing. “There is something. I can’t… I can’t tell you here,” Mikey admitted. Mrs. Wentz nodded and stood up, waiting for Mikey to do the same, before leading him out of the hospital. In a move that shocked Mikey, she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and offered him one as she lit up and took a drag of her own. He accepted one thankfully, using her lighter, and calmed down a significant amount after the first drag.

“Well?” Mrs. Wentz asked, looking at him.

“He told me today,” Mikey said, starting slowly, “that he liked me. He said he’d had a crush on me since the day we met, and he wanted me to act on it.”

Mrs. Wentz’s eyes widened. She obviously had been expecting something about Mikey supplying him with a drug dealer or alcohol, not this. “And did you…?” she asked, trailing off.

“Yes. Well, yes and no. We… I mean. We kissed. At my apartment. But I told him I couldn’t do it… because I’m so much older than him,” he explained. Mrs. Wentz looked partially relieved, and Mikey was tempted to leave it at that. But something was tugging at his heart that told him he couldn’t. “Then I realized,” Mikey said, taking another drag of his cigarette, “that I didn’t care about the law. You can call the cops on me if you’d like, Mrs. Wentz, but I’m in love with your son.”

Mrs. Wentz’s eyes were very wide now as she looked at him. “You’re in love with Pete?”

“I am,” Mikey said, the tight feeling in his chest loosening as he said it. “And I’d like to be able to act on it.” Mrs. Wentz was still shocked, and Mikey realized what exactly it sounded like he just meant. He turned red. “I mean, not like… I want to be able to see him. I don’t want him to be kept away from me until he’s eighteen, I want to be able to hold his hand and kiss him and tell him I love him. Because I do, and I think he needs this.”

“Honey,” Mrs. Wentz said, moving closer and standing on her tiptoes to press her palm against Mikey’s cheek. “We would never keep you away from Pete. We could tell from the day you two met that you really cared about him. Sometimes, that’s hard to do with Pete. Do you know what those pills he took were for?” Mikey shook his head. “Last week, Pete was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This isn’t your fault, Michael, if it’s anyone’s fault it’s his father and I’s. We threatened him with military school if he kept acting up, then when he was diagnosed… We were worried and we completely changed and it scared him.”

Mikey stared at her for probably a good three minutes after her announcement. “Pete has bipolar disorder?” he asked after a minute. He mentally started searching through his brain for all of the symptoms he had learned in high school psychology class. He couldn’t remember all of them, but Pete had the ones he could.  
Mrs. Wentz nodded. “He does. He was going to start therapy next week… I don’t think he’s told anyone yet. Not even Patrick. It’s slightly uncommon for him to have it this early, most people don’t get it until they’re around your age, and he’s… he hasn’t taken it well.”

Mikey couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Shouldn’t he have realized what was wrong with Pete? Yes, the rest of his friends were still kids themselves, but Mikey was an adult. And adult who even had a psychology credit in his belt. Sure, it was just a high school level class and didn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things, but still. Before he could say anything else, Mr. Wentz came outside. “He’s awake,” he told them, not looking at all surprised to find them smoking outside.  
Mikey immediately put out his cigarette, looking at Mrs. Wentz. “Can I go see him?” he asked, wondering if it was frowned upon.

“Go ahead,” she said, shooting her husband a significant ‘you will not believe what I just found out’ look.

Mikey didn’t linger to hear them discuss him and Pete; he went back inside and to Pete’s room immediately. He slipped inside without bothering to ask anyone, just in case, and saw Pete propped up in the hospital bed. He looked pale and Mikey couldn’t help but worry. “Peter Louis Kingston Wentz,” he started, narrowing his eyes, “you are in huge trouble.”

“You forgot ‘The Third,’” Pete said. His voice was raspy, and he sounded tired.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Mikey asked, moving to stand closer to him.

“I think,” Pete said, his voice sarcastic, “that it’s safe to say at this point that I wasn’t. I already told them it wasn’t a suicide attempt. I just. Wasn’t thinking right. What are you doing here, Mikey?”

“What, no, ‘Thanks for spending your night searching for me and saving your life, Mikey?’” Mikey asked, before bending down and kissing him. Pete’s eyes widened. “I told your Mom. About you and me. Us. I told her I loved you,” Mikey said, frowning a little. “Which, I realize now, I probably should have waited to say until after I told you. But you were unconscious. Which put a damper on my grand revelation, Pete.”

Pete was staring at him with wide eyes. “You love me?” he croaked.

“I came to my senses just a little too late. So… if your parents don’t decide jail and military school are the right options for you and me, then I want to be with you. Even if you’re a fifteen year old brat,” Mikey said.

Pete reached out and wrapped his arms around Mikey’s neck, pulling him down to kiss him again. “She told you,” he said softly when they broke apart.

“She did,” Mikey agreed. “I wish you would have told me.”

“I didn’t want you to think I was… whatever. I want you to think of me as Pete, not that bipolar kid that won’t leave you alone,” Pete said, frowning slightly.

“Oh, so you just want me to think of you as that kid that won’t leave me alone, right,” Mikey teased, running a hand through Pete’s hair.  
Pete whacked his shoulder. “Jerk,” he muttered, but he was smiling. “I love you,” he said after a minute. “I mean, I know I’m still young, but I’m also not an idiot. I just wanted you to know that.”

Mikey kissed his forehead. “I know you’re not an idiot,” he said. “You’re the smartest kid I know, Pete Wentz. I love you, too. Even if you are jailbait.”

Pete started laughing at that, and Mikey turned and saw that Pete’s parents had re-entered the room. Mikey turned bright red, which caused Pete to laugh harder. When Pete’s laughs turned to coughs and then quieted down, his parents came up to them. His dad raised an eyebrow at him, before turning to Mikey. “So, I assume we’ll be seeing a lot more of you, Michael?” he asked.

Mikey blinked. “Um,” he muttered, not knowing if that was Pete’s parents’ way of giving their blessing, or their way of telling him that they’d be seeing him in court.

“Yes,” Pete answered for him. “You will. If he wants deal with me now.”

“I’ve been dealing with you for six years, Pete,” Mikey said, putting a hand on Pete’s knee over the blanket. “If I can sit through your soccer games, I’m sure I can handle this.”

Pete grinned widely, and Mikey had to duck his head when he couldn’t help but smile back.

Epilogue

“You’re being an idiot,” Pete declared, tossing one of Andy’s drumsticks at Joe. Joe ducked and the stick hit the wall with a rather loud thump.

Mikey looked up from his spot on the couch talking to Gabe and shook his head. “Pete, knock it off,” he said, slightly annoyed. “I have band practice tonight and if I have a headache and have to deal with Frank on top of that, I’m going to tear your head off.”

“Your boyfriend’s getting feisty,” Gabe said, grinning towards the band that was attempting to practice in front of him. “I love the feisty ones.”

“He’s too old for you,” Pete said with a scowl, before moving to drape himself around Patrick. “And William is feisty and likes you enough to be your boyfriend. Deal with him and leave my boyfriend alone.”

“He’s only twenty-five. I’m nineteen, it’s legal Mikey, what do you say? Rendezvous in the bathroom? I’ll meet you there in ten,” Gabe teased. The next flying drumstick hit Gabe straight in the forehead.

“Mine,” Pete said, flipping the Latino boy off.

“Fine, you can have him. I’m going to William’s. He’s nice and sweet and doesn’t throw things at me,” Gabe said with a scowl.

“Liar,” Patrick said, straightening the cap on his head. “He was telling our entire class today how he had to throw his history and geometry book at you to shut you up so he could do homework.”

“It’s hard, dating a high schooler,” Gabe said with a long-suffering sigh. “You sixteen year olds, I swear. Mikey I’m not quite sure how you managed it.”

Patrick and Mikey both just raised an eyebrow at Gabe, who blew the room a kiss before exiting the house. “Can you remind me,” Mikey asked, rubbing his temples, “why I let you guys practice here?”

“Because it’s my house too,” Pete said, “and you all practice at Gerard and Frank’s and usually you aren’t here. Just because we’re still in school doesn’t mean we don’t need a practice space, Michael.”

“Speaking of which,” Mikey said, jumping on that, “don’t you have homework tonight? Don’t want you dropping out of college and becoming a nobody like me. Maybe you should do that.”

“Oh yeah,” Joe said with an eye roll. “You’re a real nobody, Mikey Way of My Chemical Romance. You got invited to go on Warped Tour. We’re going to be here doing nothing while you’re away all summer.”

“We’re not doing nothing,” Patrick threw in. “We’re practicing so we can also go on Warped Tour someday. Speaking of which, don’t you have your own band practice to go to, Mikey? You’re distracting our bassist and being generally annoying.”

“This is my house!” Mikey exclaimed. “You can’t kick me out of my own house! And your bass player may be nineteen, but he acts like he’s six. Shiny objects distract him,” he said, even though Patrick was right and he did really have to leave if he wanted to get to practice on time and not make Gerard upset.

He stood up and grabbed his car keys, making his way over to kiss Pete. “I’ll be home later, do your homework, and makes sure you take your medicine,” he said.

Pete rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom. Want me to do some chores too?” he teased. He pulled Mikey in for one last kiss; Pete’s bass between them, before letting him go. “See you tonight. Love you.”

Mikey smiled. “Love you, too,” he called as he left. Pete waved absent mindedly as he explained something to Patrick, using dramatic hand gestures to make his point. Mikey couldn’t help but smile at him as he left. He knew when he got home Pete would probably still be in the living room with his bass. There wasn’t much Pete took seriously, but his music was one of them. He wouldn’t have any of his homework done, so he’d want to pull an all-nighter to get it done, and then try and coerce Mikey into staying up with him. Pete always had trouble sleeping, Mikey knew that, so he’d probably give in. He knew Pete’s schedule as well as he knew his own at this point. Finally, after Pete finished, or more likely just gave up, on his homework, they’d probably curl up on the couch and watch an old black and white monster movie that played on late night television. Mikey’d be exhausted the next day at work, but it’d he’d be okay with it. It was worth it. It always was with Pete.


End file.
